Optical Sensor Partial Zone for Fog Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Optically scanning sensors, such as lidar sensors, face limitations in detecting objects due to adverse weather conditions like fog, rain, or snow, which can attenuate transmission and reception signals, leading to detection losses and potential 'dangerous failures' where the sensor fails to recognize safety-relevant objects.
Innovation Solution
The optically scanning sensor incorporates a partial zone within its scanning zone that differs from the rest by characteristics such as increased light intensity for transmission, enhanced sensitivity for reception, and specific evaluation methods. This partial zone is dedicated to detecting interference influences like fog, allowing the sensor to reliably recognize adverse weather conditions and adapt its operation accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the sensor uses standard transmission and reception across the entire scanning zone, then it maintains uniform detection capability, but it cannot reliably detect interference influences like fog while maintaining object detection performance
Solution Approach 1:
The scanning zone is divided into a partial zone and a remaining zone, with the partial zone specifically dedicated to detecting interference influences. This segmentation allows the sensor to apply different detection strategies to different spatial regions, enabling reliable fog detection without compromising overall object detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The partial zone is assigned special characteristics (such as specific angular ranges or spatial positions) that differentiate it from the remaining scanning zone. This local quality approach allows the sensor to optimize detection parameters specifically for interference detection in the partial zone while maintaining standard object detection in other areas.
2Measurement precision
If the sensor increases transmission signal intensity to detect fog, then fog detection capability improves, but energy consumption increases and object detection may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The detection function is segmented between the partial zone (for fog detection) and the remaining zone (for object detection). By directing enhanced transmission signals only into the partial zone rather than the entire scanning zone, the sensor achieves improved fog detection precision while minimizing additional energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor applies partial action by concentrating enhanced transmission energy only in the partial zone where interference detection is needed, rather than uniformly across the entire scanning zone. This partial enhancement achieves the required measurement precision for fog detection without the full energy cost of system-wide enhancement.
3Reliability
If the sensor dedicates a partial zone for interference detection, then interference detection reliability improves, but the complexity of signal evaluation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The evaluation unit processes reception signals by segmenting them according to their origin zone (partial zone vs. remaining zone). This segmentation simplifies the evaluation logic by creating distinct processing paths: one for interference detection in the partial zone and another for object detection in the remaining zone, thereby managing complexity through structured organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The evaluation unit is pre-configured with knowledge of which reception signals originate from the partial zone versus the remaining zone. This preliminary classification allows the system to automatically route signals to appropriate evaluation routines without requiring complex real-time analysis, reducing overall evaluation complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the sensor to reliably detect interference influences like fog, preventing detection losses and allowing the sensor to continue operating in a protection mode, thus improving availability and productivity even in adverse weather conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a reception unit that detects a reflected or remitted portion of the transmission signal
Implementation Method 2
The range of the transmission signal can be shortened due to the absorption of a transmission signal of the sensor, for example by droplets of fog or water vapor or by particles
Implementation Method 3
due to the absorption of a transmission signal of the sensor, for example by droplets of fog or water vapor or by particles
Data Source
AI summary
An optical scanning sensor comprises a transmission unit, a reception unit and an evaluation unit. The transmission unit is configured to emit a transmission signal into a predetermined scanning zone of the sensor. The reception unit is configured to detect a reflected or remitted portion of the transmission signal and to output a corresponding reception signal. Furthermore, the evaluation unit is configured to detect at least one object in the scanning zone of the sensor based on the reception signal. The scanning zone comprises a partial zone that differs from the remaining scanning zone by at least one characteristic with respect to the transmission signal, the reception signal and/or the evaluation of the reception signal. The evaluation unit is configured to detect interference influences, which hinder the detection of the object, based on a portion of the reception signal that is associated with the partial zone.